Titanium Armor?

Insane cost aside, would titanium tubing and plate be TOUGH enough to make sliders, skid plates, and front and rear bumpers?

Are there any companies or teams that have done this?

I am looking at this from a total/overall weight point of view...

 

Nope. From what I remember titanium would shatter at the first hard impact.

 

depends....6/4 or 3/2.5

 

I’m running full titanium armor but it’s a 4Runner.

Sorry I can’t help.

 

Of course you can help. Where did you purchase/obtain? Are you happy with it? How does it hold up? Got any pictures?

 

Don't think it's as impact resistant. In the Aerospace industry it's used for strength and weight but not something you can Lund on the rocks then heat it up to beat it back, hell you can't smacks dents out of aluminum skids. I only know since I tried it on my buddies more than once.

 

If you want light weight skids just get aluminum.. I don't recommend it if you intend on putting it to use though, I got my 3/16 steel skids used from a guy who was swapping them out for 1/4 steel. I have some huge dents and marks in them

 

I use TITANium armor. Haven't had one shatter yet.

 

Ok, I'm going to ignore the plethora of different alloys out there for steel and Ti, and just stick with "generalities".

For its weight, Ti is far stronger than steel, so you could have a bumper that weighs the same as a steel, but is FAR stronger, or one that is just as strong, but much lighter, or somewhere in between. Also, Ti has similar elasticity characteristics as steel, or at least it can, so it's not like it's going to shatter on the first impact. Even carbon fiber doesn't necessarily shatter on first impact.

But I got curious, so I took a quick gander at McMaster Carr for some raw material cost comparisons:

A 1/4" x 1' high strength 1144 carbon steel bar cost $1.56.
A grade-5 titanium bar the same size cost $28.11.

That's 18x the cost.

So, just judging by that alone, if you're willing to pay around $18,000 for a titanium bumper (seeing as how steel front bumpers can cost $1000), be my guest...

 

Titanium is very hard to weld, as well. Figure 4 or 5x the cost of welding. Has to be done in a controlled environmental chamber. Molten titanium, in the presence of oxygen, has a tendency to... um... explode.